The Kennedy Center: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Star Cross'd and Starry Eyed

From the opening lines of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows what lies in store for the tragedy's title teens: that these two "star-crossed lovers" are doomed to die. By the end of the play, an "ancient grudge" and "their parents' rage" will lead Romeo and Juliet to a terrible fate -- they will kill themselves. Yes, a bloody feud and dual suicides, and yet Romeo and Juliet is one of the great, classic love stories. In fact, according to scholar Harold Bloom, it is "the most persuasive celebration of romantic love in Western literature."